


He Who Invites

by Bakageta



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Time Loop, also game!MC and anime!MC are individual characters in this, technically I guess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-16
Updated: 2014-04-19
Packaged: 2018-01-19 14:27:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1473127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bakageta/pseuds/Bakageta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The nature of the world is cyclical. Events repeat with minor changes until the gyre is stable, after which the world moves on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 4/13/11 (Evening): Awakening

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Again and Again and Again Once More](https://archiveofourown.org/works/348099) by [gingerandrust](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingerandrust/pseuds/gingerandrust). 



> Very much inspired by [gingerandrust's](http://archiveofourown.org/users/gingerandrust/pseuds/gingerandrust) fic [Again and Again and Again Once More](http://archiveofourown.org/works/348099), also based off a prompt seen somwhere (perhaps the bathhouse or some other challenge thread).

4/13/11 (Evening): Awakening

 

He’d been standing in the room for ages before he even realized what he was doing, and once he realized that he was a person (or at least an existence) the rest came crashing down around him.

He was Seta Souji; he had lived and loved and grown old and he had died. He had children and grandchildren and a wife. He had saved the world once or twice. He was also in a room, and, he confirmed with a glance down, was sixteen again.

The room was huge enough that, from its center, Souji couldn't clearly see the walls and the ceiling was high enough that it might as well have not been there in the first place. There was a low couch and coffee table in the middle where Souji stood and there were well worn paths on the hardwood floor. The scuffed paths led off in all directions but regardless of their length they never crossed. It was an uncomfortable and empty place.

Souji was struck by the thought that the people who wore those paths in the floors must be terribly lonely.

Idly, he wondered how he had gotten here. Even though he knew those things about himself he couldn't remember them. His wife, whomever she was, had been reduced to brief, faceless flashes seen through dense fog, as had his children and grandchildren. Souji vaguely recalled laying more than half dead in a hospital room, but nothing more could be pulled from the mist that seemed to stifle his efforts.

Souji should have been upset by this. He knew it, but he couldn't make himself feel it.

The sound of quiet footsteps drew Souji’s attention away from himself.

The other tensed when he realized Souji was watching him. For a moment Souji wondered why, before realizing that the other was his double.

_‘A shadow…?’_

Then he got a better look.

_‘No, his eyes are grey… Then what about mine...?’_

The realization was another thing that should have shocked him, after all Souji hadn’t had any reason to think that he was a shadow. He hadn't felt like he thought a shadow should, all bitter and repressed, and he hadn't realized who the other Souji was until he’d seen his eyes.

“Do you know where we are?” Other Souji asked quietly, his uncertainty showing in his eyes.

“In-between.” Souji answered without thought. He knew he was right even though he had no way of knowing, and that was another one of those things that should bother him but didn’t. “I called out to you and you made a connection, as simple as that.”

Other Souji’s brow furrowed in thought before he came to a realization.

“That was you,” Other Souji said tentatively before softly quoting, “I am thou, thou art I…”

“You understand?” Souji asked.

“Not really…” Other Souji replied, glancing around the room.

“It’s fine, don't worry.” Souji said, and then he closed the distance between them and placed his hand on Other Souji’s shoulder.

“It'll be difficult,” Souji said distantly, his eyes losing focus as flashes of _Sempai-don't-worry_ and _We’ll-get-this-bastard_ and _I-know-it’s-hard-but-we're-here_ crossed his mind, “but you won't be alone anymore.”

After a few moments of silence Souji regained his focus. Other Souji (though he wonders if Souji is actually the other’s name, it’s not like they introduced themselves) has disappeared and Souji’s grateful because he suddenly lacks the energy to do anything but stagger to the couch and fall onto it, unconscious.

 

 


	2. 4/14/11 (Afternoon): Summoning

4/14/11 (Afternoon): Summoning

 

_‘I am thou.’_

_‘Thou art I.’_

_‘Thou hath forged thy connection.’_

_‘The time ist now.’_

Souji wakes when he is called, surging into existence with an easy swing of his naginata.

**-GO!-**

He lunges forward at the urging, crushing one of the three Habalieres in front of him beneath his heel before it even has a chance to notice him. Souji stops, crouched protectively over Other (probably-not-actually, call it a hunch) Souji. Without looking, he knows that he’s in the TV world. It’s the feel of the air, there’s something indescribably static about it, and, though he remembers it being hard to breathe, for some reason Souji is having no problems. Other Souji is panting from the effort it took to summon him, and Souji belatedly realizes that he is Izanagi in this scenario.

It explains a lot, and, he supposes, it makes sense considering their last meeting.

They are in a courtyard and Souji has time to notice Yosuke and an unconscious Chie sitting to the side before the remaining two Habalieres slam onto him, one of them doing its level best to gnaw through his neck. The shadows send him flying and Souji can feel it as Not Souji is pulled back with him.

There’s a surge of _anger-indignation-worry-for-Hanamura-and-Satonaka_ that’s not entirely Souji’s, as he rips the shadows off of himself and Not Souji curses.

**-GET THEM-**

Souji doesn’t need the too-strong urging, it’s enough that they tried to eat him.

Stepping forward, Souji runs his naginata through the first Habaliere to recover from its impromptu flight across the courtyard. He swings it around, using the force of the movement to fling the shadow off of the blade and into the Habaliere behind him. It dies, dissolving into thick haze as the second shadow attempts to recover from the blow.

-Zio-

He tries to send to Not Souji. Lightning is their weakness, he remembers, but he can’t use his limited spells without energy from his summoner.

“Izanagi!” Not Souji shouts, and something of his message must have gotten through because Souji can feel the burning power flow into him.

Souji extends his clawed hand, palm out, and, before the shadow can react, a lightning bolt slams down and bursts it.

As the shadow fades, Souji feels a wave of _disbelief-pride-exhaustion_ wash over him from Other Souji, and Souji fades from existence (his summoner has turned his attention from maintaining Souji to ensuring his friend’s safety) before he can learn anything more.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> This fic isn't going to have anything resembling a steady update schedule, but I wanted to at least get the first section posted.


End file.
